She Takes It So Well
by sheisbeautiful-sheisnotme
Summary: Lorelai has a long day and only Stars Hollow's resident knight in shining flannel can fix what ails her. Hurt/comfort fic set post-finale. Rated T for mild swearing and brief sexual references.


(Title taken from REM's "Bad Day.")

Lorelai knew the day was off to bad start from the moment she opened her eyes and the headache she had hoped to sleep off was still there, throbbing in the front left portion of her brain. Without moving her head, she flopped her arm over to Luke's side of the bed to ascertain how long he had been gone. The sheets were ice cold. She had come in late last night to find her still-recently-reconciled boyfriend deeply asleep in her bed -their bed? Was is their bed yet? Or their bed _again_?- and she was too wiped out to do anything but snuggle into his side. Normally she stirred when his early morning deliveries had him getting up at what must be illegal hours, but this morning her body clearly had other ideas.

Lorelai shuffled into the bathroom to brush her teeth and grab two ibuprofen from her medicine cabinet. She knew she was up for another long day and tried to lessen the pain, hoping a cup of coffee would also help to cure her headache. Michel had unexpectedly taken yesterday off, claiming to be "coming down weeth somesing," and would be out the next few days convalescing. With Sookie's due date coming closer every day and Michel now out of commision, it looked like another day of double shifts.

As luck would have it, Luke was also one man down: Caesar was out of town babysitting his sister's kids while she and her husband were celebrating a second honeymoon. He had penciled himself out for the entire week. Lorelai only saw Luke long enough at the diner for a brief kiss while he handed her a to-go cup full to the brim, each wishing the other a good day.

Lorelai noticed she also had a bit of an itchy throat, which she tried to soothe with even more coffee and repeatedly trying to clear the tickle she felt. She didn't have time to sit down once during the day, between fulfilling her role as owner and Michel's role as assistant manager. She was always grateful that her modest attempt as a business owner seemed to continue to be successful, but for once, she wished for a slow day, a day without checking in families and coordinating deliveries and dealing with paystub issues and scheduling guests for town events and a quiet throbbing that never quite left her head and having to play phone tag with a certain antiques store in Hartford who claimed they had no record of her purchase despite Lorelai actually having the receipt _in her hand_. The employee on the phone had _insisted_ she come to the store with said receipt in order to "claim her purchase." As if she wasn't already a paying customer!

With only enough time to grab a quick standing lunch in the kitchen, and sending Sookie home at a reasonable hour because she was going to need all the rest she could get before her third offspring arrived, Lorelai lost track of time. It was only when the night manager showed up did she realize the antiques store was due to close in 40 minutes. It took 30 minutes to get to Hartford on a good day, so she rushed to grab her keys and the receipt and jumped in her Jeep.

She was able to get to the store just in time, proudly waving her receipt at the mousy looking employee. "You see! The proof is in the pudding, my friend. Make sure you put a bow on my new nightstand, just for funsies," she insisted.

After loading the nightstand into the Jeep, she reached into her purse to text Luke to let him know she'd be a little late for dinner. Dumping all the contents of her bag onto the passenger seat, she realized she must not have grabbed her phone when she was leaving the Dragonfly. _No matter_ , she shrugged, and turned on her car. The car hesitated briefly, then sputtered to life. Lorelai pursed her brows but started her drive back to Stars Hollow, deciding she would wait to bring the nightstand to the inn tomorrow.

Fifteen miles into the drive, she saw her car's temperature was raising slightly. Five minutes later, the car was losing speed. Alarmed, she threw her flashers on and drove to the shoulder of the road. She turned her car off, relieved she didn't see any smoke coming from her hood. She waited a minute, then turned the key. Nothing. Frowning, she stepped fully on the brake, turned the key again. Nothing. _Crap_. _I can't_ believe _I don't have my phone tonight, of all nights!_

Lorelai resigned herself to wait for someone to drive by so she could flag them down for help. She kept her flashers on and sat, trying to will anyone to show up in her rearview mirror.

After thirty minutes, she was concerned. _Where was everybody?_ she wondered. She had gone through her purse, her glovebox, the inner console in her car, even reading the owner's manual in an attempt to pass the time, and not a single car had driven in either direction. She couldn't believe it. She figured she'd give it another ten minutes… and then what? Wait in the car all night?

Worst of all, her sore throat was making itself known again, given that she had run out of coffee halfway on her drive to the antiques store. She didn't have a single cough drop, or even a sucking candy, to relieve the itchy feeling she felt on her soft palate.

Finally, a full hour had somehow crawled by and she still saw no one. She looked at her watch. It was late, although she knew Luke would still be at work. She once again berated herself for not making sure to have her cell phone. She knew if it had been Rory, she would give her the full mom lecture about how she had to keep a way to access the outside world at all times. She sighed. She could either wait here and maybe have someone stop by who could help, or she could suck it up and make her way back home by foot. By sheer luck she had a plastic bag which she stuck into her driver's side window, showing her car was not abandoned and she would return for it as soon as she could. Locking her car and taking one last look at the nightstand she blamed for all her troubles, she began her walk.

The first hour wasn't terrible. She sang the entire Blondie's Greatest Hits album, able to sing any and all parts as loudly as she wanted. The second hour went slower, with her energy lagging, her stomach rumbling, her feet aching, her head throbbing. It was late, and the light cardigan she had on wasn't helping much, even though she was keeping a steady pace. Suddenly, the one thing that could make the night worse happened: It started to rain.

Lorelai looked up at the sky. "Really? This is how it's going to be? Tell me, who did I royally piss off for it to start _raining_ on this already shitty day?" Buttoning up her cardigan as much as possible, she sighed and put her head down. She couldn't help but let the weather affect her mood. She was tired and hungry and alone and wet and uncomfortable and she just wanted to get home. Her nose was running, and as she sniffed, she wasn't sure if it was from the weather, her maybe getting sick, or a result of her mood.

Finally, she saw she was only a mile away from Stars Hollow. Lorelai was simultaneously relieved to see she was in the home stretch, while also unsure if she would be able to complete the last leg of her unwanted journey. She could feel blisters on her feet and knew she would be terribly sore tomorrow. Lorelai Gilmore had never walked this much in her entire life, of this she was sure. And even though it was late August, the persistent rain and her lack of proper attire meant she was shivering slightly in her wet clothes.

Somehow, magically, the Crap Shack eventually came into view. Lorelai's shoulders lost a little tension when she saw Luke's truck in the driveway. Luke. He would make this better.

Speaking of her man in flannel, he greeted her the moment she stepped through her doorway. "Lorelai? Are you ok? What happened to you? Where were you? "

She dropped her waterlogged bag, looked him in the eyes, croaked, "I had the longest day," then started crying without any warning.

"Ah geez," Luke said as he took her into her arms. "You're soaking wet! What did you do, walk in the rain?"

Lorelai nodded into his chest, soaking up his warmth as his shirt soaked up her dampness. He rubbed her back, kissed her forehead, then tugged her hand. "Come on, you need to get out of those clothes."

Lorelai replied with an automatic but half-hearted "Dirty!" as he led her upstairs. "You want a bath or a shower?" Lorelai considered her options. She was exhausted and wasn't sure if she could stand, but she also feared she would actually fall asleep if she were to close her eyes in the tub.

"Will you come shower with me?"

Luke smiled at her. "Of course. Whatever my girl needs," and squeezed the hand he still held. Luke was rarely this gushy, not that this was a lot, but Lorelai knew that between getting their miraculous third chance and her obvious need to be taken care of this night, he was a little more willing to show his affection behind closed doors. Once in the bathroom, Luke turned on the taps to get the water a little less warm than Lorelai normally took her showers. From all his experiences of warming up after a cold day outside, he knew it was best to regain one's warmth with a slightly cooler shower. Luke took care of undressing them, first getting her out of her clothes, then stripping himself of his. He stepped into the shower but let Lorelai take the direct hit of the spray. She just stood there, letting the water cascade down her body, trying to both metaphorically and physically wash her day away.

When she asked for the shampoo, Luke offered to wash her hair. She shook her head, but said he could wash her body while she took care of her hair. She loved Luke dearly, but the man, bless him, pulled at her knots when he tried to do something as sweet as wash her hair. The last thing her headache needed was any sort of tugs. As she lathered and washed, Luke poured a copious amount of her favorite body wash onto her shower poof and started washing her back. Lorelai soon abandoned rinsing the suds out of her hair while Luke paid close attention to cleaning every inch of skin on her body. Despite their being in the shower and his obvious half-erect member, Luke had no intention of turning the act into a sexual encounter. It was evident to him that if Lorelai had wanted something along those lines, she would initiate. Rather, he continued to wash her body, leaving no part neglected. While Lorelai put the conditioner in her hair, he started massaging her lower back to which she responded with a quiet moan, her hands wringing out any leftover product from her hair.

Reluctantly, Lorelai eventually turned off the water. Luke pushed aside the shower curtain and grabbed her towel, rubbing it on her arms and shoulders before allowing Lorelai to wrap herself up. Luke grabbed his own towel, wrapped it around his waist, then handed Lorelai the towel she always used for her hair. Luke kissed her left shoulder, then left the bathroom, allowing Lorelai a few minutes post shower to take care of whatever she needed. Lorelai leaned against a sink, feeling twenty times better than she had all day. As she was toweling off, Luke asked from the bedroom, "Do you want me to whip you up something to eat?"

Lorelai knew her stomach would disagree, but for the moment, she did not have enough energy to go downstairs. "No thanks, babe," she said. Coming out of the bathroom, she saw Luke was already in a pair of boxers and had laid out an old muscle shirt of his as well as a pair of boxers for her. Luke pretended to put up a fuss that she had claimed all his old clothes as hers but secretly loved seeing her wear any and every piece of his clothing. She abandoned her towel on the floor and put on her pajamas, knowing he chose those pieces for both of their comfort. She removed the towel from her hair, not caring that her hair was still damp. She crawled into bed, having no sympathy for Tomorrow Lorelai who would have to deal with towels on the floor.

Luke told her he would be right back, then walked downstairs and went through the motions of locking up the house for the night. Coming back upstairs, Luke shut off the light and got into bed. "You want to tell me about your day?"

Lorelai sighed as she snuggled into his chest. Despite the shower, she still felt chilly from walking in the rain. "My headache from last night never went away, Michel is home sick, Sookie still has funny taste buds even this far into her pregnancy so I had to make sure her assistants were trying all her food before it was served, I had what seemed like a record number of guests check in, I never had chance to even sit down today and eat like a human being, I played phone tag trying to prove I actually bought a nightstand from a ridiculous antiques store that apparently doesn't believe in electronic records, my car broke down, I forgot my phone at the inn, then it started raining while I was walking home and I couldn't even call you for help." Lorelai sniffed and took a deep breath and wrapped her arms around Luke's strong torso while he buried one hand in her hair and the other held her close. "My throat hurts, my legs hurt, my eyes hurt because my contacts were in for too long. I feel like _Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good Very Bad Day_."

"I'm sorry you had a bad day, sweetheart," Luke rumbled as he guided her head onto his chest. "Tell me what I can to do make it better."

Lorelai squeezed her arms around him again. "You've done it all," she assured him, as she felt her eyes close almost against her will.

Luke hummed and Lorelai felt it reverberate in his chest. "Get some sleep, Lorelai," and he kissed her on her forehead once again. Lorelai smiled, then gave into the pull of sleep.

Several days later, Lorelai felt like things were once again right in her world. Michel was back at work, fully recovered and saying that he had hit his goal weight thanks to the stomach flu, which was way more information than she needed. Lorelai made sure to mark herself off the work schedule that evening as well as the next day. She hadn't taken a day off "just because" in several months -really, since Rory left- and she knew she needed a little break. Even her cold-like symptoms had disappeared after a good night's sleep.

Caesar was back, too, which meant that Luke's sleep schedule was once again more in tune with hers. Lorelai was humming "Bette Davis Eyes" as she grabbed her takeout bag from Al's Pancake World from the passenger seat of her newly fixed Jeep. While she knew that Al's was Luke's competition, she thought she would do him a favor and provide dinner that night. Besides, that week Al's was serving Greek food and she knew how much Luke enjoyed spanakopita. She set the table and had just finished placing the silverware next to the plates when she heard Luke come home.

"Lorelai?" he called.

"In the kitchen!"

Luke walked in and greeted Lorelai with a kiss. "What's all this?"

"All this" was a lit candle in the middle of the table as well as wine glasses and even cloth napkins. "I just wanted to thank you again for taking care of me this week."

As expected, Luke waved off her thanks. "It was nothing."

"It was exactly what I needed when I needed it, and I wanted to make sure you knew how grateful I am. All you have to say is, 'You're welcome, Lorelai,'" she said in an overly gruff voice.

"You're welcome, Lorelai," answered Luke, equally gruffly. "This looks great. And you know I just like to see you happy."

That last line had become one of their new "things" as a couple, and she smiled brightly at him. "I know. Now let's dig in before it gets all congealed and gross."

Luke snorted. "And _bon appetit_ to you, too."

The two chatted amicably during their meal, Lorelai refilling their wine glasses a few times, enjoying the fact that they were in their own home, with nowhere to go. After they had cleared their plates, Lorelai grinned at Luke wickedly. "Of course, since you were such a good boy this week, you get _double_ dessert tonight."

Luke smiled back in kind. "Oh yeah? I didn't see any extra boxes from Al's."

Lorelai rose from her chair and took his hands in hers. "I should hope Al isn't serving this dessert in his restaurant," and she led him upstairs to make sure he could _really_ feel Lorelai's gratitude.

 _Fin._


End file.
